1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to gaming system designs including a tournament feature. More particularly, the present invention may include a gaming system having two or more electronic or electromechanical gaming machines in common communication, the gaming machines providing each player an opportunity to enter and play a tournament game at each player's current location rather than at another, specific location designated for tournament play. A player may qualify for entry into a tournament in various ways, such as, for example, through achieving predetermined combinations of elements or scores on the gaming machine in a single base or primary game or in multiple games over time, wagering a predetermined amount or at a predetermined rate, or collecting a predetermined number of tournament entry points from play of primary games. Participation in a tournament after qualification may be, at the player's option, deferred until a later time.
2. State of the Art
Electronic games and their methods and apparatus for use are also well known in the art. Electronic games include games of chance, games of skill, and games involving both skill and chance. Examples of several patents describing games of chance include U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,536 to Davids et al. (Nov. 10, 1998), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,716 to Saffari et al. (Jun. 23, 1998), U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,460 to Fulton (Oct. 13, 1998) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,820 to Morro et al. (Sep. 7, 1999).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary electronic game 200 as found in the art. An electronic game 200 typically includes a microprocessor or other computer 204 having a central processing unit (“CPU”) 206 and memory 208. The computer may be coupled to a number of peripheral devices, such as, by example only, a display screen 210 (e.g., a cathode ray tube (“CRT”), plasma display, liquid crystal display (“LCD”), and/or a display based on light-emitting diodes (“LED”)) possibly having a touchscreen input 212 (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,397 to Dickinson (Sep. 14, 1999)), and/or buttons, keys or other user input devices 214. Preferably, a coin, currency or card acceptor device 216 (to accept a credit card, gaming card, smart card and the like) permits a player to activate a game play or place wagers. The electronic game may also include a separate scoreboard display 218.
Electronic games may also be coupled to one or more other computers such as a central computer 220 of a casino, e.g., via a network card 222 and link 224, modem 226 and the like. The game parameters 228, such as how, when and where particular images will appear on the display screen 210, how the game works and how to operate the various elements operably coupled to the computer 204, are stored in the memory 208. The electronic game 200 may be housed in a game housing 202 such as, by example only, those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,460 to Fulton (Oct. 13, 1998) and Des. 404,436 to McGahn et al. (Jan. 19, 1999).
Initiating an electronic game can be done as simply as by inserting a coin or, more comprehensively, for example, by inserting an identification card, such as a “smart card” having a programmed microchip or a magnetic strip coded with a player's identification and credit totals. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,874 to Dickinson et al. (Nov. 30, 1993), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,045 to Biorge et al. (Sep. 8, 1998) uses a writeable identification card, such as a smart card, to eliminate the need for a network or direct connection between remote systems and a common controller or point database. Promotional point and credit information may be retrieved, recorded and updated using the smart card. Alternatively, it is known to transfer money to a game through an electronic funds transfer as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,983 to Crevelt et al. (May 11, 1999).
Existing electronic game displays typically include multiple images representing various aspects of a game such as a game portion, a credit total portion and a wager amount portion. Other electronic game displays include an additional bonus award portion to indicate an amount of a bonus award which may be won, typically through multiple games. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,851,148 to Burne et al. (Dec. 22, 1998) and 5,911,418 to Adams (Jun. 15, 1999).
The Internet also includes casino or game host sites offering displays similar to those found in conventional electronic games. Generally, to play an Internet game, a software file is downloaded to a player's computer or terminal, which may then be used to install the necessary software for the game and/or access the casino or game host Internet site. As with a conventional electronic game, Internet electronic games may be accessed using an identification code or name to identify a specific player and retrieve that player's credit total or play history.
Gaming tournaments, conventional methods and the operation of which are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, are typically held by casinos at specified times, in designated areas within the casino to which a group of gaming machines has been moved for the purpose of conducting a tournament, and for specified durations. Tournament players are conventionally required to pay an entry fee to enter the tournament, although no wagers are made during the tournament. The accumulated points totals for successful tournament play, although couched in monetary terms, do not generally comprise the amounts of the actual prizes awarded. Accordingly, the “money” won is not actually paid out, but tournament players with the highest accrued totals of “money” at the end of the tournament are the winners. These winners may be conventionally awarded a percentage of the entry fees, or other prizes, by the sponsor or sponsors of the tournament.
One example of a gaming tournament system and method of entering a gaming tournament is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,374 to Breeding. The Breeding patent discloses a playing card wagering game to be played at predetermined tournament card game tables during a specified time. In the Breeding patent card game, players place a wager and are then permitted to place a second wager and entry fee for the opportunity to participate in a tournament game. In one embodiment, for example, players may elect to pay a $1 entry fee per hand to participate in the tournament. If a player pays the entry fee and gets a straight or better, the player's hand is eligible and may qualify the player for the second round of the tournament during a second predetermined time if the player's hand is in the top one hundred eligible hands obtained during the specified tournament time. For the tournament disclosed in the Breeding patent, there are five tournament rounds. At each round, the number of players eligible for a succeeding round is reduced and play continues until only five players are left in the final round. The players are then ranked by the total amounts accumulated in the final round and awards paid accordingly from a super jackpot total. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,081, 5,417,430 and 5,544,892, all to Breeding.
Although conventional tournament opportunities encourage protracted gaming and add variety to a player's gaming experience, administration of conventional gaming tournaments is time consuming and relatively expensive. As a result, tournament play is offered only at particular times and places most convenient for the tournament coordinators to allow sufficient time for tournament organization activities such as qualifying participants, sectioning off a portion of the casino, rearranging gaming machine or table locations, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,271 to Thacher et al. discloses a method of tracking tournaments for electronic games in which scores achieved on the games are transmitted to one or a hierarchy of computers, which determine a winner or winners. Player codes are stored in association with player credits. The players insert credit cards into the gaming machines, which read the player codes, send the codes to a computer which verifies each player's identity and enables the gaming machines. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,271 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,163 to Fulton discloses the linking of a plurality of gaming machines to a “control station” to at least announce commencement of play of a secondary, group-oriented game to players at distributed gaming machines normally used for play of another, individually oriented game, such as stud poker. The invention of the '163 patent is specifically disclosed in the context of providing the opportunity for individual players to participate in a bingo game without leaving their gaming machines. The bingo game may be conducted manually, using a bingo card secured to the gaming machine, or may be conducted through the gaming machine itself, linked to the control station.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,648 to Guinn et al. discloses the linking of a plurality of gaming machines to a host computer so that gaming machines at distributed locations may be employed in tournament play. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,648 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
PCT International Application Number WO 98/00210 (“the '210 Application”) discloses a method of tournament gaming wherein a plurality of slot machine gaming terminals is selectively networked together with a host terminal so that current players of the slot machine terminals may be notified of an opportunity to participate in group tournament play. A player receiving the notification may choose to enter the tournament, for example, by depositing a specified tournament entry fee. The '210 Application discloses that when a tournament begins, the tournament participants will push the “spin” button as fast as possible, and without the deposit of additional money, in order to earn as many points as possible. Participants in the tournament are disclosed to play for a fixed period of time, with the winner selected as the player who accumulates the largest number of points during that fixed time period.
While the concept of linking distributed gaming machines to facilitate initiation of group-oriented gaming from the distributed gaming machines has thus been recognized, it would be desirable to provide a tournament gaming system which is easily initiated and invites qualification for tournament play through enhanced participation in a base or primary game by a player located at a gaming machine convertible for tournament play.
Furthermore, in tournament games of fixed duration, part of the excitement of a tournament is the frenzy of playing the particular game as fast as possible. Under these circumstances, however, a player's contribution to an expected payback percentage from the tournament is substantially dependent upon the number of games the player initiates within the tournament time frame and, thus, may be highly variable for each single player within a group of participating tournament players. This wide range of expected payback percentage may be considered undesirable from a player acceptance standpoint and, additionally, may be disallowed in some gaming jurisdictions. Accordingly, it would be further desirable to lessen the potential for wide variations in expected payback percentages resulting from tournament play and enhance the competitiveness of tournament play.